On Monday, Spike Lee premiered his new film “BlacKKlansman” starring John David Washington, Adam Driver, and Topher Grace at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
The film, which is set in 1979, is based on the book ‘Black Klansman’ by Ron Stallworth and the story of his infiltration of the Ku Klux Klan in Colorado Springs as an African American detective. The film garnered applause throughout the screening, but as the credits rolled following real footage of the Charlottesville riots, Lee drew a 10-minute ovation, six of which was a standing-O.
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In hours after the world premiere, Lee stood before reporters to discuss the film but used the opportunity to attack Trump for his refusal to denounce the white supremacists and alt-right groups that wreaked havoc in Virginia last August, leaving three people dead.
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“That motherf*cler was given a chance to say we are bout love, and not hate, and that motherf*cker did not denounce the motherf*cking Klan, the alt-right, and those Nazi motherf*ckers,” he said, according to Variety. “It was a defining moment, and he could’ve said to the world…that we were better than that.”
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Despite Trump’s lackadaisical effort to condemn the hate group,s Lee felt it was “our job as filmmakers and storytellers …to connect this period piece to the present day.”
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“We look to our leaders to give us direction, to make moral decisions, and I like to say this is not just something that pertains to the United States of America, this bullsh*t is going on all over the world,” he said of his film. “We have to wake up. And we can’t be silent.”
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“Blackkklansman” will be released on the one-year anniversary of the riots.
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